LaHood: Recalled Toyotas "Not Safe"
Updated at 1:21 p.m. EST
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration's performance during the Toyota recall and said vehicles on the recall list weren't safe as he faced his second House panel in as many days.
"We have listed every Toyota that's up for recall" on the Transportation Department Web site, LaHood said. "I want anybody who has one of those cars to take it to the dealer and make sure it gets fixed."
LaHood said those vehicles on the recall list posted on his department's Website "are not safe."
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the NHTSA failed to follow through aggressively on thousands of complaints dating back a decade about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
NHTSA, which is part of the Transportation Department, "failed the taxpayers and Toyota failed their customers," Towns declared ahead of eagerly awaited testimony by Akio Toyoda, the company's chief executive.
"Thousands of complaints, multiple investigations, and serial recalls are bad enough. But we now have 39 deaths attributed to sudden acceleration in Toyotas," Towns said. "To give that horrifying number perspective, there were 27 deaths attributed to the famous (Ford) Pinto exploding gas tank of the 1970s."
LaHood said the NHTSA has acted aggressively to force Toyota to address safety problems. He also told lawmakers Tuesday that the agency is looking closely at whether the car's electronics are to blame.
"We will get in the weeds on this," he testified.
He called the beleaguered safety agency the "most effective" in the world, one that fields more than 30,000 complaints each year.
"We take every one seriously," he insisted. "We haven't been sitting on our hands."
David Strickland, the new head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, had been on the list of witnesses but was removed right before the hearing started.
Republicans pressed LaHood about why Strickland was dropped from the hearing witness list, saying they may call him for another hearing. LaHood said Strickland has held his post for only a short time and that LaHood would answer for the safety agency.
"I am not going have our NHTSA administrator, who has been on the job 40 days, appear. I am taking responsibility for this," LaHood said.
Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce Committee requested an investigation by the Transportation Department's inspector general of NHTSA's handling of the Toyota recalls. The committee wants the IG to expand the review to include industry-wide complaints and reports collected by the agency on unintended acceleration or brake failure, compliance with recent auto safety laws and government ethics at NHTSA.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the leading Republican on the House oversight panel, waved a gas pedal before LaHood and complained that Toyota knew about problems of sticking gas pedals and improperly placed floor mats years ago and made some fixes on models sold in Japan but delayed addressing the problems on other cars, including some of its most popular models sold in the U.S., until just recently.
Issa also accused NHTSA Wednesday of falling down on the job, saying on CBS's "The Early Show" he believes the agency was too cozy with the industry it regulated and that NHTSA had "abandoned" safety investigations that should have been further pursued.
"There's no question that they [the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration] are guilty of welcoming in its revolving door former [auto company] employees and case after case abandoning investigations they already decided had some merit," Issa said.
Toyoda, the automaker's 53-year-old Japanese chief executive will testify is set to testify after LaHood. Toyoda has accepted "full responsibility" for the halting steps that led to the recall. He said the company grew too fast to keep up with safety controls.
Also scheduled to appear was the mother of an off-duty California highway patrolmen killed with three family members in a runaway Lexus on a San Diego highway in August.
Lawmakers indicated they will continue to push Toyoda for answers on whether its top-selling cars and trucks are safe to drive. The Transportation Department's vehicle safety division also faces continued questions over whether it took the problem seriously enough and paid attention to warnings signs with Toyotas long before the recalls.
Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide - more than 6 million in the United States - since last fall because of unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering concerns in Corollas.
People with Toyotas have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
Congressional panels are asking whether computerized modern automotive electronics designed to make cars more efficient can sometimes make them less safe.
More on Toyota at CBSNews.com:
Issa: Government Shares Blame for Toyota Mess
Issa: Japanese Open Their Own Toyota Probe
CBS News Exclusive: Toyota Study Disputes Acceleration Problem
Toyota's Recall Success No Sure Bet
Toyota Has Donated to Investigating Reps.
Toyota Victim Recounts "Near Death" Trip
Issa: Toyota Hearings Will Be Fair
Are Electromagnetic Fields to Blame?
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration's performance during the Toyota recall and said vehicles on the recall list weren't safe as he faced his second House panel in as many days.
"We have listed every Toyota that's up for recall" on the Transportation Department Web site, LaHood said. "I want anybody who has one of those cars to take it to the dealer and make sure it gets fixed."
LaHood said those vehicles on the recall list posted on his department's Website "are not safe."
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the NHTSA failed to follow through aggressively on thousands of complaints dating back a decade about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
NHTSA, which is part of the Transportation Department, "failed the taxpayers and Toyota failed their customers," Towns declared ahead of eagerly awaited testimony by Akio Toyoda, the company's chief executive.
"Thousands of complaints, multiple investigations, and serial recalls are bad enough. But we now have 39 deaths attributed to sudden acceleration in Toyotas," Towns said. "To give that horrifying number perspective, there were 27 deaths attributed to the famous (Ford) Pinto exploding gas tank of the 1970s."
LaHood said the NHTSA has acted aggressively to force Toyota to address safety problems. He also told lawmakers Tuesday that the agency is looking closely at whether the car's electronics are to blame.
"We will get in the weeds on this," he testified.
He called the beleaguered safety agency the "most effective" in the world, one that fields more than 30,000 complaints each year.
"We take every one seriously," he insisted. "We haven't been sitting on our hands."
David Strickland, the new head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, had been on the list of witnesses but was removed right before the hearing started.
Republicans pressed LaHood about why Strickland was dropped from the hearing witness list, saying they may call him for another hearing. LaHood said Strickland has held his post for only a short time and that LaHood would answer for the safety agency.
"I am not going have our NHTSA administrator, who has been on the job 40 days, appear. I am taking responsibility for this," LaHood said.
Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce Committee requested an investigation by the Transportation Department's inspector general of NHTSA's handling of the Toyota recalls. The committee wants the IG to expand the review to include industry-wide complaints and reports collected by the agency on unintended acceleration or brake failure, compliance with recent auto safety laws and government ethics at NHTSA.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the leading Republican on the House oversight panel, waved a gas pedal before LaHood and complained that Toyota knew about problems of sticking gas pedals and improperly placed floor mats years ago and made some fixes on models sold in Japan but delayed addressing the problems on other cars, including some of its most popular models sold in the U.S., until just recently.
Issa also accused NHTSA Wednesday of falling down on the job, saying on CBS's "The Early Show" he believes the agency was too cozy with the industry it regulated and that NHTSA had "abandoned" safety investigations that should have been further pursued.
"There's no question that they [the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration] are guilty of welcoming in its revolving door former [auto company] employees and case after case abandoning investigations they already decided had some merit," Issa said.
Toyoda, the automaker's 53-year-old Japanese chief executive will testify is set to testify after LaHood. Toyoda has accepted "full responsibility" for the halting steps that led to the recall. He said the company grew too fast to keep up with safety controls.
Also scheduled to appear was the mother of an off-duty California highway patrolmen killed with three family members in a runaway Lexus on a San Diego highway in August.
Lawmakers indicated they will continue to push Toyoda for answers on whether its top-selling cars and trucks are safe to drive. The Transportation Department's vehicle safety division also faces continued questions over whether it took the problem seriously enough and paid attention to warnings signs with Toyotas long before the recalls.
Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide - more than 6 million in the United States - since last fall because of unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering concerns in Corollas.
People with Toyotas have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
Congressional panels are asking whether computerized modern automotive electronics designed to make cars more efficient can sometimes make them less safe.
More on Toyota at CBSNews.com:
Issa: Government Shares Blame for Toyota Mess
Issa: Japanese Open Their Own Toyota Probe
CBS News Exclusive: Toyota Study Disputes Acceleration Problem
Toyota's Recall Success No Sure Bet
Toyota Has Donated to Investigating Reps.
Toyota Victim Recounts "Near Death" Trip
Issa: Toyota Hearings Will Be Fair
Are Electromagnetic Fields to Blame?
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now they dont even make good cars.
I think the sudden acceleration is caused by faulty electronics not the mechanical problem toyota is trying to sell. my next car will be a honda.
What is really being DONE to evaluate the problems, determine if any are resolved or not, and derive any needed solutions?
Why don't we just get on with it. The US DOT needs to obtain a subpoena for the system involved, and totally dissect and evaluate the hardware and software to determine what is happening; this stuff is not magic. Congress, a grand jury, or the media are not going to solve the problems. Turn some good independent engineers loose and get it done!
I suggest spending some government and Toyota petty cash and funding some electrical engineering, mechanical engineering , and computer science graduate students at a few universities, including in Japan, to look at all of these possible problems, and also with all other companies' vehicles. Possibly add a prize for good work.
Bad Fuel Injectors twice.
Boarderline high oil consumption, 1000 miles per quart mostly in one cylinder. Probably due to the piston ring gaps not being spaced apart from each other.
Automatic transmission / transaxle differential stub shaft retaining pin breaking, letting shaft walk out and chew a hole in the case causing a huge transmission fluid leak leak.
They knew enough to stop making this model but what about the people stuck with this lemon?
I will never buy another Toyota again.
They charge more for quality that they don't have.
That jerkie committee member from D.C. quit talking in circles and realize ALL automakers are in the same boat! Oh forgot you're a democrat!!!! Also, how many of the committee members actually know ANYTHING about how an automobile is built and put together, how can anyone or thing be judged if you have NO CLUE how it works? Don't pretend you know something when the lives of many people are at stake to make an example of someone. Remember how many people YOU the SUBCOMMITTEE will put on unemployment. You think there is a problem now? Add another 150,000 people to that.
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What a load that is....
When an American Car has a Defect, the American Auto Manufacturers send 1000 Lawyers and Lobbies to Washington to Stop the U.S. Government from requesting or forcing a Recall.
When a Japanese Car has a Defect, the Japanese Auto Manufacturers send 1000 Engineers to fix the problem immediately.
Maybe Toyota should learn from Americans and send 1000 lawyers and Lobbies to Washington since this is getting out of control.